1977: Fleetwood Mac releases the follow-up to their surprisingly successful Fleetwood Mac album. Rumours goes on to outsell the previous release and firmly establishes the band as late-blooming superstars.

1966: A new rock band formed in Los Angeles on this day. They call themselves the Herd and are comprised of members Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Richie Furay, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin. The band would soon change its name to Buffalo Springfield. They would produce only one hit single (“For What It’s Worth”) but were hugely influential in the folk & country flavored rock music that would soon become popular.

1964: The man who holds the publishing rights to the song “Louie, Louie,” Max Firetag offers a $1,000 reward to anyone who can find anything suggestive in the song’s lyrics. The reward goes unclaimed.

1968: Universal Studios signs a contract with The Doors that calls for the band to star in a feature film, a group “humor book,” and a book of lead singer Jim Morrison’s poetry. Only the book of poems will ever be released.

1967: John Lennon buys an 1843 circus post at an antique store in Kent, England. The poster provides him with the inspiration for the song “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite” on the Sgt. Pepper album.

1973: The band formerly known as Wicked Lester, performs at the Popcorn Club in Queens, NY for the first time under their new name: KISS.

1983: Stevie Nicks marries Kim Anderson, the former husband of a close friend who has passed away,  at her home in L.A. The marriage would last less than one year.

Commenting on the marriage, Nicks has said: “What was I thinking?”

1997: That paragon of 1950’s wholesomeness, Pat Boone releases an album of heavy metal music (!), No More Mr. Nice Guy. While most rock fans get the joke, the religious broadcaster Trinity Broadcasting Network does not. It fires Boone.

A little later, TBN would have an epiphany and Boone would be reinstated.

1968: Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay” is released six weeks after he died in a plane crash in Madison, Wisconsin. It would go on to become the first posthumous #1 record in American pop history.

Little known fact: Redding had intended to return to the studio and record lyrics in place of the whistling that closes the song.

1963: A folk trio called the Rooftop Singers hits the top of the Billboard charts with their recording of “Walk Right In.” Turns out the song was written in 1930 and the composer, Gus Cannon, had been living in poverty until the royalty checks from this new recording starting rolling in.